Roll roofing and process of making same



Nov. 17, 193e. l

l c. R. ECKERT ROLL ROOFING AND PROCESS OF 'MAKING SAME Filed Dec. l2, 1931 Ritented Nov. i7, i936 TES ROLL ROOFING AND PROCESS F G SAlifIE Application December 12, 1931, Serial No. 580,633

4 Claims.

This invention relates to roofing and process of making same, and more particularly, to selvage roofing of the felt base type and to the manufacture of such roofing.

5 One object of this invention is to provide selvage roll roofing which is more durable and resistant to wear and weather than existing selvage roll roofing. Another object ls to provide a process of making the roofing of this invention in a simple and economical manner, the

process being capable of practice in existing roofing machinery with little or no change or reorganization of the machinery. Other objects and advantages will appear from the fol- J lowing detailed description.

Heretofore, selvage roll roofing has been made by coating a saturated felt base with waterproofing material, such for example as asphalt, the coating being applied to approximately the lower half of the base. This coating was surfaced with granular material. The upper .half of the base was left uncoated and unsurfaced, forming a raised portion substantially parallel to the longitudinal edges of the base where the coated and surfaced portion met the uncoated and unsurfaced selvage portion. Such roofing was laid with the uncoated and unsurfaced selvage area of one course underlying the coated and surfaced portion of the overlying course, the

forward edge of the overlying course abutting against th raised portion of the underlying roofing. Before applying the succeeding course,

asphalt was applied by the roofer to the selvage area of the preceding course. In practice, it

f has been found that the roll roofing above described after laying frequently develops defects in the selvage area in close proximity to the raised granular surfaced portion. The principal defects encountered was` cracking of the felt base adjacent to the raised portion of the roofing. Often this cracking was due to the carelessness of the workman in applying the asphalt coating to the selvage portion in that the area immediately contiguous to the raised portion was not completely coated with asphalt or other cementitious waterproofing material. Also, in the manufacture of such roofing, the upper edge of the granular surfaced portion and the forward edge of the roong were at times inadvertently not made straight but irregular, and consequently, proper alignment of the contiguous courses was not obtained so that unprotectedv portions of the selvage area between contiguous courses of roofing were exposed t0 the Weather,

In accordance with this invention, in the manufacture of roll roofing, a narrow band or stripe contiguous to the line where the granular surfaced asphalt coated base meets the uncoated and unsurfaced selvage area is provided with a seal coating of asphalt or other waterproofing material. Preferably, a high melting point asphalt, i. e., having a melting point of from 210 to 235 F. is utilized for this purpose. 'I'his seal coating may be made thinner than, or of the same thickness as, the coating of Waterproofing material applied to the exposed portion. If of approximately the same thickness, it is preferably covered with tissue paper, fabric, or other inexpensive non-cementitious material so that when the sheet is rolled, danger of the narrow .coating layer causing adhesion of the successive convolutions of the roll is eliminated. Thus the roll roofing of this invention in its finished form and as shipped to the consumer has a seal coat of asphalt covering a narrow stripe of the selvage area contiguous to the raised granular surfaced portion.

v The roofing of this invention may be made by simultaneously applying to a saturated felt base, sayvof 32 inch width, two stripes of coating material. One stripe may be approximately 15 inches wide and has one longitudinal edge contiguous to the longitudinal edge of the felt base. The other stripe may be approximately 3 inches wide and may be thinner or of the same thickness as the first mentioned coating stripe. This narrow stripe is applied contiguous to the wide stripe. 'I'he remaining 14 inch wide portion of the base is left uncoated. Granular or other non-cementitious wear-resisting material is partially embedded and completely covers the 15 inch wide stripe of the coating while the latter is still soft and tacky. If desired, tissue paper or other non-cementitious sheet is applied to the narrow 3 inch stripe and this is preferably done when the stripe is of the same thickl ness as the wide coating stripe.

In the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this specification and showing, for purposes of exemplication, preferred forms of this invention without limiting the claimed invention to such illustrative instances- Fig. 1 is a side elevation of apparatus for making the selvage roll roofing of this invention, the figure being somewhat diagrammatic in character and showing the steps involved in the manufacture of the roong;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation, partly in section,

' saturant the necessary opportunity to dry and` i 'plate 2 I.

ing embodying this invention;

i Fig. 4 is a fragmentary plan of the roofing of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a side elevation somewhat diagrammatic' in character of apparatus for applying coating material and tissue paper or fabric in the manufacture of roofing having the narrow coated striped portion covered with tissue paper or fabric;

Fig. 6 is a front elevation, partly in section, of the coating apparatus of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a vertical section through a modied form of selvage roll roofing of this invention; and Fig. 8 is a side elevation somewhat diagrammatic in character of `a modied form of apparatus for making the roll roofing of this invention.

Referring to the drawing, with particular reference to Fig. 1, a sheet of fibrous material I,

which may be, and preferably is, of the usual roofing felt made from rag ber and paper stock with or without suitable llers as well known in this art, is fed by feed rolls 2 from the usual paper making machine or felt roll into looping device 3. From the looping device 3, rolls 4 feed the sheet into any customary type of saturating apparatus, indicated generally by the reference numeral 5. Saturating tank 6 may contain suitable cementitious waterproofing composition, such as asphalt or other bituminous material, utilized for the impregnation and saturation of roofing felts.

Rolls 'I and 8 feed the saturated sheet to a second looping device 9. 'I'he passage of the saturated base through the looping device 9 gives the thoroughly impregnate the fibrous base. Rolls I I and I2 feed the saturated sheet from the looping device 9 to the coating appliances indicated by the reference numeral I3. Rolls I2 are preferably driven at a slightly greater peripheral speed than that of coating rolls I4, I5, the slack accumulating between driven rolls I2 and guide roll I6, over which the sheet passes before'entering the bite of the coating rolls I4, I5. Coating roll I5 is rotatably mountedin a tank I1. 'I'his tank may contain bituminousmaterial such as asphalt or other cementitious waterproofing substances suitable for coating roong felt.

'Ihe base of the sheet I is completely coated by roll I5. Waterproong material is applied to the top of the sheet by means of pipe I8. This pipe is arranged to feed coating material to form a stripe or layer on only the lower portion of the base (see Fig. 4). 'Ihe flow of coating material on the upper selvage portion of the base indicated by the reference numeral I9 is preventedby a plate 2| which may be hollow for the introduction of steam thereinto to heat the plate. In accordance Awith' one embodiment of this invention, coating v roll I4 is provided with a narrow metal collar 22 extending thereabout at a point contiguous to 'Ihis collar is of such thickness that a clearance is provided between the collar and the felt base I. Plate 2I is suitably supported so that the felt base in its passage thereunder, under tension exerted by the feed rolls, contacts with the base of this plate.

The coated sheet leaving coating rolls I4, I5 has on the lower portion a relatively wide layer or stripe of coating material \23 of substantially uniform thickness. Contiguous to the wide layer 23 is a relatively thin, narrow layer of coating ma- 75 terial 24.' The longitudinal edges of the coating layers 23 and 24 are substantially parallel to each other and also parallel to the longitudinal edges of the base. The remaining portion of the base is constituted of the uncoated selvage area I9.

Upon leaving the coating appliance and while the coating material is still tacky, the sheet passes 'under hopper 25, containing granular material,

such as crushed rock, slate, or other mineral material customarily used in surfacing roofing. The granules are showered by means of the usual distributing roll 26 onto the coating stripe 23 of the base therebeneath. Hopper 25 is of a width such that granular material is fed only onto the coated stripe 23. If desired, a guide plate may be provided beneath hopper 25 to insure that no granules fall on the relatively thin coating stripe 24. The surfaced sheet then passes about reversing roll 21, which functions to partially embed the granular material in the'plastic coating stripe 23. In the continued passage of the sheet, excess granules fall olf therefrom into hopper 25 from whence they were delivered onto the base I.

-The rear surface of the sheet I then passes under hopper 28. Mica dust, talc or other composition capable of rendering the back of the sheet non-cementitious is deposited in hopper 28 and discharged therefrom by distributing roll 29. The talc covered sheet then passes over reversing roll 4I, which imparts a smooth surface to the back of the sheet. Excess talc falls off from the base 'as it passes from roll 3| to the drying and pressing rolls 32. Hopper 28 is preferably so positioned that the excess talc falls back thereinto as shown in Fig. 1. f Feed rolls 33 feed the sheet from the pressing rolls 32 into a looping device or rack 34 where the product is given an opportunity to cool. From the looping rack 34, the completed roong passes between feed rolls 35, about guide roll 346, and is fed by the pull rolls 31 to a suitable winding device (not shown), where the roofing is rolled up into the usual roll of commerce.

y Roofing resulting from the operations above described, is shown in plan in Fig. 4 and in vertical section in Fig. 3. From Fig. 3 it will be noted that this roofing is composed of a saturated felt or other fibrous base 38. The upper portion of the face of the base is constituted of the selvage area I9. Relatively thick coating stripe 23, the forward edge of which coincides with the forward edge of the base, covers the lower portion of the base. Narrow coating stripe 24 is disposed contiguous to stripe 23. Granular material 39 is partially embedded in coating stripe 23, and mica dust or talc 4I is dusted over the coating layer 42 on the back of the element to render coating 42 non-adhesive. Due to the fact that coating stripe 24 is substantially thinner than the combined thickness of coating layer 23 and granular surfacing 39, the roofing of Fig. 3 may be rolled without danger of the plastic coating 24 causing adhesion of successive convolutions of the roll.

In the manufacture of roofing 32 inches wide. the coated stripe 23 is preferably made 15 inches wide. the coated .stripe 24, three inches wide, leaving uncoated selvage portion I9, 14 inches Wide.

In the modification shown on Fig. 5, upper coating roll 43 is not provided with a collar similar to collar 22 on roll I4 of Figs. 1 and 2 but is of uniform diameter throughout its length, as shown on Fig. 6. Otherwise the apparatus of Fig. 5 is substantially the same as described above except for the fact that there is disposed between the coating rolls 43, I5 and the slate hopper 25 a reel of paper such as tissue paper, or inexpensive kraft paper, or fabric. As the coated sheet passes under reel 44, a strip of paper or fabric of a width equal to that of stripe 24 is applied to the upper edge of coated stripe 45 formed by coating roll 43, cooperating with coating supply pipe IB. The resultant product differs from the roofing of Fig. 3 in that instead of relatively thick and thin coatings 23 and 24, respectively, a coating stripe 45 of uniform thickness is formed on the felt base 33. Tissue paper or other nonoementitious sheet material 46 covers a narrow stripe of coating layer 45 along the upper edge thereof. When the roofing of Fig. 'l is rolled up, the tissue paper prevents adhesion of successive convolutions of the roll;

Instead of simultaneously producing the relatively thin narrow and wide thick coating stripes 24 and 23, respectively, by the apparatus of Fig. 1, apparatus such as shown in Figs. 5 and 8 might be employed to form a stripe of uniform thickness and of a width equal to the combined widths of stripes 23 and 24. The coatedl sheet, upon leaving the coating rolls 43, I5, is engaged by scraper 41 of a width equal to that of stripe 24 which removes a portion of the coating to form the relatively thin coating stripe 24.

The roofing of this invention is laid in successive courses with the forward edge of the roofingl of an upper course abutting against the upper edge 49 of the granular surfaced portion of the underlying roofing. Asphalt or other cementitious coating material is applied to the selvage portion I9 before the overlying course of roofing is laid, the asphalt thus applied preferably covering the portion represented by the narrow stripe 24.

It `will be noted that in the roofing of this invention, the seal coating stripe 24 improves the weathering properties of the roof resulting from the application of the roll roofing in the usual manner. Even though the workman carelessly applies the asphalt coating to the selvage area and fails to apply coating contiguous to the granular surfaced edge 49, as has frequently been the case in practice, and even-though due to irregularities in edges 49 and the forward edge of the overlying course', portions of the roofing above edge 49 are left: exposed to the weather, the portions thus left uncoated or exposed are protected by the seal coat 49 and this with 4an economy of coating material. It will be noted that the major portion of the selvage area which does not require protection since it is covered by the overlying course', has no coating thereon.

Since certain changes in carrying out the above process, and certain modifications in the article which embody the invention may be made without departing fromr its scope, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

1. The process of making roll roofing which comprises saturating a felt base with waterproofing material, simultaneously applying two contiguous stripes of cementitious waterproof coating material to said base, one stripe being substantially wider than the other, the wide stripe being thicker than the narrow stripe and the wide stripe being disposed with one longitudinal edge thereof contiguous to one longitudinal edge of said base, the combined width of both of said stripes being materially less than the width of said base, and partially embedding granular material in the wide stripe only.

2. The process. of making roll roong which comprises saturating a felt base with waterproofing material, applying a layer of bituminous coating material to the face of said base, one longitudinal edge of said layer coinciding with a longitudinal edge of said base, the other longitudinal edge of said layer being disposed intermediate the longitudinal edges of said base, removing a portion of the coating material along a narrow stripe, one longitudinal edge of which is contiguous to the longitudinal edge of the coated stripe disposed intermediate the longitudinal edges of said base, and covering the coating layer except for the narrow longitudinal stripe from which a portion of the coating material has been removed with. non-cementitious wear-resisting material.

3. Selvage roll roofing comprising a saturated felt base, a coating of cementitious waterproofing material covering one face of said base contiguous to one longitudinal edge of said base, said coating being of a width substantially less than that of said base, a second coating layer of cementitious waterproofing material thinner and narrower than the first mentioned coating layer disposed contiguous to the iirst mentioned coating layer, and granular material partially embedded in the first mentioned coating layer only.

4. Selvage roll roofing comprising a felt base 

